Kaye Dacus's Blog, page 6

Planning for 2019: The Master Plan

I’ve mentioned, and shown photos from, my 2019 life planner—a “not-a-bullet-journal” planner that’s based off of some of the ideas that I’ve gleaned from the professional BuJo-ers out there (I’ll link to a few below). One of the most important spreads that I incorporated into the planner this year is a Master Plan spread. In […]

2019 Reading Challenge and Goals

There’s a lot I want to do this year. And that means I might not have as much time for reading. It also means that I don’t want to feel like I’m forcing myself to read just to meet a “challenge” if reading isn’t want I want/need to be doing at the moment. So I’m […]

Books Read in 2018: My Reading Recap | #amreading

Wow, I’m way behind on getting my 2018 recaps posted. My only excuse is that I’ve been so busy planning for 2019 (see here and here for more info on that process). The Goals My first goal was to read 60 titles (books, short stories, long-form blog, etc.). My second goal was an A-to-Z author […]

My 2019 Word – RELEASE

Yes, it’s that time of year—time for resolutions and goal setting; time to rehash last year and set new goals and challenges for this year. And it’s also time for me to jump on the “word of the year” bandwagon and choose a word that will be my theme/focus for 2019. My word—my theme—for 2019 […]

2018 #NaNoWriMo Results: Did You Hit Your Goal? | #amwriting #NaNo

I’m not a big fan of the terminology of “winning” NaNo. This isn’t a win/lose situation—any words you write are a win!—and it sets up the mindset of failure if you don’t happen to reach an arbitrary word-count goal. That said, drumroll please . . . I HIT MY WORD-COUNT GOAL FOR NOVEMBER!!! I’m still […]

#NaNo2018 Half-Month Check-In | #NaNoWriMo #amwriting

Hey, fellow NaNo-ers! Believe it or not, November is already half over. How are you doing on your goal(s)? As of yesterday (14 November), I was 2/3 of the way to my personal goal of 15,000 words. I’ve actually been able to use a lot of the “awful” stuff I wrote years ago, the last […]

Happy #NaNoWriMo Day! Let’s Start Writing! | #NaNo2018 #amwriting

It’s here! November 1! NaNo month blew into Clarksville, Tennessee, with pouring rain and strong winds; and every time I look out a window today, I’ve been humming Stacey Kent’s “‘Tis Autumn,” as there’s just something about the gray rainy chill that makes me happy this time of year. (Give me a few months of […]

#NaNoWriMo Prep: Take Your Characters on a Road Trip | #amwriting #NaNo2018

Instead of filling out charts and questionnaires and mindmaps and GMC lists, there are many other ways to figure out things about our characters (and, by extension, our stories) that may actually be more creatively fulfilling. One of the things I’m a big proponent of is putting characters in a mundane situation and seeing what […]

#NaNoWriMo Prep: Preparing for Old-Fashioned Writing by Hand | #amwriting #NaNo2018

When I was writing books under contract, I did it mainly on the computer—whether at the desk or with a laptop in bed or out at a coffee shop or library. But when I first started writing—and when I would get creatively stuck—I always turned to pen and paper. Getting away from the computer (and, […]

#NaNoWriMo Prep: Soundtracks and Soundscapes for Your Characters, Story, and Imagination | #amwriting #NaNo2018

It’s Friday, so it’s time to focus on some of the more fun and creative aspects of prepping for NaNo—and that’s the music and soundscapes for our characters, story, and writing time—to spur our imagination. In my years of experience hanging out with both published authors and unpublished writers, it’s not unusual to hear writers […]